Music-leaf turner.



J. LEONARD & N. J. SMITH.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED IEB.27, 1911.

1,017,157. Patented Feb. 13,1912.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

OOLUMIIA PLANOGIAPH GO" WAIIIINCITON, D. C.

J. LEONARD & N. J. SMITH.

MUSIC LEAF TURNER.

APPLICATION FILED rmmv, 1911.

Patented Feb. 13, 1912.

v2 SHEETS-BHEET 2.

w 9W Hm mp h COLUMBIA PLANOGRAPH 60.. WASHINGTON. D. c.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JAMES LEONARD AND NORMAN J. SMITH, 0F WATER/L00, IOWA, ASSIGNORS OF ONE- I THIRD TO ALBERT HORAT, OF WATERLOO, IOWA.

MUSIC-LEAF TURNER.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed February 27, 1911.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that we, JAMES LEONARD, a subject of the King of Great Britain and Ireland, and NORMAN J. SMITH, a citizen of the United States of America, and bot-h residents of WVaterloo, Blackhawk county, Iowa, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Music-Leaf Turners, of which the following is a specification.

Our invention relates to improvements in music leaf turners, and the object of our improvements is to furnish a simply constructed, positively acting, and convenient removable device for the purpose, adapted to be applied to a piano or other music support. This object we have accomplished by the means which are hereinafter described and claimed, and which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is a perspective view of a piano having our improved music leaf turner secured thereto operatively holding the leaves of a book of music. Fig. 2 is an enlarged elevation of our improved music leaf turner, parts of same being broken away to better disclose the operative mechanism. Fig. 3 is a broken detail sectional view of said device showing the key-operated means for shifting the leaf turning rods, and taken in a direction at right angles to the View given in Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a detail View of one of the leaf turning rod clips adapted to removably engage a leaf of music.

Similar numerals of reference designate corresponding parts throughout the several views.

The leaf turning rods of our device may be of any desired number, but we have shown five in the drawings, consisting of the vertical rock-shafts 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5, located in the same plane directed from the front of the device backwardly and spaced apart. These vertical rods are passed through the oblique plate 11 and then bent at right angles to the right at their upper ends, to form horizontal arms having depending extremities, said extremities being furthermore bent to form hook-shaped clips 10,9, 8, 7, and 6 respectively, said clips opening downwardly as shown in Fig. 4, to removably each engage a sheet or leaf of music 41 of a book 53. The said horizontal arms vary in length, progressively shortening from 1 to 5, so that said clips lie in sidewise relation, spaced apart but stepped relative to each other, so as to not interfere with each other. The rock-shafts 1 to 5 are mounted in the bearing blocks 12 and 17, which are connected by a fixed rod 14, while both said blocks and said rod are removably seated in a cylindrical hollow sleeve 13. The upper end of said sleeve is closed by an elliptical plate 11 where the sleeve is truncated at an angle, said plate having orifices to receive said shafts.

The sleeve 13 is supported by the following-described means. The basal body 38 has an impending clamp-member integral therewith adapted to grasp the upper face of the piano-ledge or shelf 50. The lower part of said body has thumb-screws 40 which may be adjusted to removably grasp the lower face of said shelf. The upper part of said body has a socket 35 adapted to removably receive the depending dowel 36 of a bearing-body 43, the latter received within and fitting the upper portion of the expanded lower end 34 of said sleeve 13, removably. The upper face of said bearingbody 43 has an upwardly-projecting dowel which fits within the sleeve. The dowel 36 is similarly secured in the socket 35 by means of a thumb-screw 37. A collar 29 is removably secured on said sleeve 13 immediately above the box 43 by means of" a thumb-screw 33, and this collar carries a shelf 30 having back-supports 31 for a music-book, also short clips 32 adapted to clasp the covers of the book between themselves and the upwardly-flanged rear part of the shelf. A. music-book 53 may be placed on said shelf, with its two covers spread apart and held removably by said clips 32, the leaves of the book being however otherwise free to be turned by means of the rods 1 to 5 the latter having been secured thereon previously in the manner previously described.

The numeral 42 designates a vertical rod whose upper part is movably passed through a vertical opening in the bearing-body 17, a compression spring 16 being secured between the upper end of the rod and the upper face of said body and bearing against the latter to tend to raise said rod. The lower end of the rod 42 is seated slidably in an orifice in the bearing-body 43 and has an upturned end 23 which is likewise slidable through another orifice in said bearingbody, rising above the latter in front of and parallel to said rod 42 and being furnished on the right-hand side with upwardly-directed ratchet-teeth 24, there being five teeth or as many as there are shifting rods for the music leaves.

The numeral 48 designates a lug depending from the under surface of the bearingbody 43, to which is pivoted the rear end of an arm or key 26 whose upturned forward end is furnished with a finger-piece 25, an eyelet being provided on said key at 47, whereby as shown in Fig. 1, when desired said key may be connected with the muffler pedal 52 of a piano 49 by means of. a connecting rod 51. The finger piece may be used, however, without connection to the pedal if desired. The numeral 44 designates a screw which secures to the under face of the bearing-body 48 ends of two springs 45 and 46 both located to the left of the key 26. The lower end of each spring engages the key 26, but the spring 45 draws upwardly vertically upon said key, while the somewhat more powerful spring 46 draws said key to the left tending to keep its detent 27 in engagement with the teeth 24 on the rod 23.

The lower ends of the rock-shafts of the rods -1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 are bent toward the right in such a manner that they are all re-' ceived between the rod 42 and its forward upturned portion 23, one above the other, the end of the rod 1 being uppermost, and the others located thereunder in regular sequence as shown in Fig. 2. As shown in Fig. 8, each of said rods 1 to 5 inclusive 1S supplied with a coiled spring 15 whose upper end in each case is secured to the rod, and whose lower end is secured to a. pin 54 projecting from the bearing-body 17. These springs therefore tend to rock the rods to the left when their lower bent ends 18 to 22 inclusive are successively released from between the parts of the rod 42.

A music book being placed on the shelf 30 as shown in Fig. 1, the covers held by means of the clips 32, and the leaves held by the clips 6 to 10 in regular sequence, with the clip 10 holding the uppermost leaf, the leaves are turned by the use of said device in the following way. The finger-piece 25, or pedal 52 as the case may be, being pressed down and then released, the detent 27 on the key 26 moves down the rod 42 to the extent of one of the teeth 24, and when the key is released the traction of the spring 45 draws up said detent along the ratchet to the extent of one tooth, the other spring 46 keeping it in slidable contact with the ratchet to prevent the entire release of the latter and thus neutralize the upward pull of the springs 45 and 16. When the rod 42 is moved downward the uppermost inturned end 18 of the forward rod 1 is released from the rod-portion 23, and under the tension of the spring 15 throws the upper arm of the rod 1 over to the left, carrying with it the uppermost leaf 41 of said book 53. In like manner each succeeding depression and release ofthe key 26 acts to release the bent over ends 19 to 22 inclusive in succession, thus turning successively the leaves to which the rod clips 9 to 6 inclusive are connected. To return the shifting-rods 1 to 5 to their first position it is only necessary to rock them completely over to the right first, then secondly to draw the key 26 to the right enough to entirely release the teeth of the ratchet-bar which then moves up to engage the projections 18 to 22 inclusive as at first.

This device is adapted to be secured to any music-stand for use by the operator on any musical instrument, or for the use of vocalists.

Having described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is:

1. A music leaf turner, comprising supporting means, a number of spring-actuated turning-rods supported rotatably thereby and having projections at their lower ends and leaf-turning arms at their upper ends, a spring-actuated ratchet-bar having a bentover portion adapted to removably receive and hold said projections, a movable body adapted to detachably engage said ratchetbar, a fixed support, a spring connected be tween said fixed support and said movable body, and so located with respect to said movable body and to said fixed support as to exert a sidewise stress on said movable body to normally retain it in contact with said ratchet-bar, and resilient-means so connected to said ratchet-bar as to exert an upward stress thereon.

2. A music leaf turner, comprising a closed supporting casing, a series of springactuated turning-rods supported in said casing and having projections at their lower ends and leaf-turning arms at their upper ends, a spring-actuated ratchet-bar having a bent-over portion adapted to removably receive and hold said projections, a movable body adapted to detachably engage said ratchet-bar, a fixed support, a spring connected between said fixed support and said movable body, and so located with respect to said movable body and to said fixed support as to exert a sidewisestress on said movable body to normally retain it in contact with said ratchet-bar, resilient-means so connected to said ratchet-bar as to exert an upward stress thereon, a pedal, and connecting-means between said pedal and said movable body.

3. A music leaf turner, comprising sup porting means, a number of spring-actuated turning rods supported rotatably thereby and having projections at their lower ends and leaf-turning arms at their upper ends,

a spring-actuated ratchet-bar having a bentover portion adapted to removably receive and hold said projections, a movable body adapted to detachably engage said ratchetbar, a fixed support, a spring connected between said fixed support and said movable body, and so located with respect to said movable body and to said fixed support as to exert a sidewise stress on said movable body to normally retain it in contact with said ratchet-bar, a spring so connected to said ratchet-bar as to exert an upward stress thereon, and means for detachably securing said supporting-means to a musical instrument.

4. A music leaf turner, comprising supporting-means, a number of spring-actuated rods supported rotatably thereby and having projections at their lower ends and leaf-turning arms at their upper ends, a spring-actuated ratchet-bar having a bentover portion adapted to removably receive and hold said projections, a movable body adapted to detachably engage said ratchetbar, a fixed support, a spring connected between said fixed support and said movable body, and so located with respect to said fixed support and to said movable body as to exert a sidewise stress on said movable body to normally retain it in contact with said ratchet-bar, a spring so connected to said ratchet-bar as to exert an upward stress thereon, and a removable bookholder supported on said supporting-means below said arms and provided with means for detachably clasping the covers of a book when the latter are spread apart.

5. A music leaf turner, comprising a plurality of spring-actuated turning-rods, supports therefor, said rods having leaf-turning arms at one end and projections at the other ends, a movable ratchet-bar formed to removably receive and hold said projections, a detachable pawl engaged with said ratchet-bar, resilient-means drawing said ratchet-bar toward said projections, a fixed support, a spring connected between said fixed support and said pawl, and so located with respect to said fixed support and to said pawl as to exert a sidewise stress upon said pawl to normally keep it in contact with said ratchet-bar.

Signed at Waterloo, Iowa, this 10th day of Feb. 1911.

JAMES LEONARD. NORMAN J. SMITH.

Witnesses:

G. G. KENNEDY, O. D. YOUNG.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, I). C. 

